1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to a method and apparatus for making adhesive bandages and, more particularly, to an adhesive bandage pad module and a method for making adhesive bandage pads.
2 . Description of the Background
Adhesive bandage pads have long been used to provide a protective cover for a wound, while isolating the wound from the adhesive used to fasten the bandage to the skin. One type of bandage has a continuous narrow strip of pad material placed transversely across the center of a continuous strip of adhesive backing, and the pad and backing material is then cut along the width of the adhesive backing. This method produces a bandage with a pad that extends to the edges of the adhesive backing. This type of pad is known as a full width pad. Manufacture of a full width pad bandage is straight-forward and known in the art.
A second design places discrete pads onto the center of an adhesive backing. This type of pad, known in the art as an xe2x80x9cisland pad,xe2x80x9d provided adhesive at the edges of the pad. Island pad bandages are currently produced using a xe2x80x9ccut and placexe2x80x9d method, wherein individual pads are first cut from a strip and then mechanically placed with precision onto an adhesive strip. The cut and place method of making island pads has proven relatively slow and inaccurate. In response, some suppliers moved to xe2x80x9cfull widthxe2x80x9d bandages, in order to achieve improved production efficiency. Additionally, xe2x80x9cfull widthxe2x80x9d bandage machines, as well as prior xe2x80x9cisland padxe2x80x9d machines, were often not removable, and thus were difficult to maintain.
Therefore, the need exists for a module and method that can quickly and accurately cut an island pad and transfer it to an adhesive backing to create an adhesive bandage pad at a production efficiency comparable to that achieved in connection with xe2x80x9cfull widthxe2x80x9d bandages, and for a module that is removable to provide ease of maintenance.
The present invention is directed to an adhesive bandage pad module. The adhesive bandage pad module includes an infeed assembly which receives a continuous pad strip, and a knife roll having a plurality of blades placed laterally thereon. The knife roll receives the continuous pad strip from the infeed assembly. An anvil tangentially contacts the knife roll and presses the continuous pad strip into contact with the knife roll at the tangency. The knife roll then carries the cut pad to a transfer roll. The transfer roll carries an adhesive backing to receive a cut pad from the knife roll. A gear aligner allows for positioning of the cut pad from the knife roll to the transfer roll. At least one servo motor drives the infeed assembly, the knife roll, and the transfer roll. In a preferred embodiment, the anvil is not driven, thereby reducing wear from knife blade strikes. In one embodiment, a force adjustor is used to control the amount of force exerted by the anvil against the knife roll during cutting.
The present invention also includes a method of making an adhesive bandage pad. The method of making an adhesive bandage pad includes rotating a servo motor, which servo motor rotates at least one of a knife roll, a transfer roll, and an infeed assembly; feeding a continuous pad strip to the infeed assembly; cutting the continuous pad strip against the anvil with a blade located on the knife roll; and transferring the cut pad onto an adhesive backing. In one embodiment, the method also includes controlling an amount of pressure exerted by the blade upon the anvil during the cutting step.
The present invention solves problems experienced with the prior art because the use of a servo motor prevents the slow speed and excessive skewing encountered during use of one or more clutch driven motors. Further, the use of a force adjustor improves accuracy in the cutting of the pads. Thus, the present invention offers speed approaching that of full width pad production for island pad production, while providing ease of maintenance due to a stand-alone pad module. Those and other advantages and benefits of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description of the invention hereinbelow.